"I Delight To Do Thy Will, O My
God."
Psalm
40:8
We know that these words are the words of
our Lord Jesus Christ, because the Spirit of God has told us so (Heb. 10:7-9).
They find their ultimate, perfect fulfillment in the Person and work of Christ.
How we rejoice to know that Christ, the God-man, our Substitute, has fulfilled
all the will of God for us! By his obedience to God in our stead the Lord Jesus
obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb.
However,
these are also the words of David, a sinner saved by the grace of God. They
express the desire, ambition and driving force of every believer's heart. All
who are born of God bear this distinct mark of grace in the likeness of Christ. From our hearts we cry, "I delight to do thy
will, O my God." Nothing is more important. Our joy and happiness is
not merely in receiving good from God, but in rendering active service to our
God. We desire to obey and serve our heavenly Father in all things and to do
his will at all times, not reluctantly, or of
necessity, but cheerfully. God's will is our joy and delight. And we rejoice to
see God's will done by others. Our hearts' prayer is,
"Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in
heaven" (Matt. 6:9-10). God the Holy Spirit teaches every believer in
the world to pray with Christ, "Thy will be done." The more we
grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ the more we are consumed by this holy
ambition. Were it possible to gather all the desires, ambitions, aspirations,
goals and prayers of all God's saints in heaven and in earth into one
expression, it would be "Thy will be done." Every believer
delights to do the will of God.
When
the believing heart cries, "I delight to do thy will, O my God,"
the meaning of his prayer is, "My heavenly Father, my God and Savior, in
my heart of hearts, from the depth of my inmost soul, I delight to fulfill your
will of purpose. I delight to satisfy your will of pleasure. I delight to obey
your will of precept. And I delight to submit to your will of providence."
We rejoice in the fact that our heavenly Father is a God who "worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will."